Popup Cantonese

If you think the sheer population density of Hong Kong is impressive, wait until you experience the island's fast-food density. By our admittedly unscientific survey, conducted on the way to lunch one day, there are several hundred McDonalds prowling the Kowloon area alone, all beckoning to potential customers with free wifi, air conditioning, and sometimes even food....

Learning Cantonese? In this lesson our dialogue covers a lot of fast-food vocabulary, but our focus is really about learning how to offer people choices, and recognize when other people are offering us choices. So if you're learning Cantonese and already have the basics down, join us for a podcast that will help you push towards a higher level fluency in the language. And feel free to let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Learning Cantonese? Our free Cantonese podcast today takes place in a hospital, where a doctor and patient are having an intimate discussion about treatment options. And so while we hope you won't have to visit a hospital while in Hong Kong, this lesson should be useful to you even if you're in perfect health. Since in addition to a lot of high frequency Cantonese vocabulary, we learn to talk about success and failure rates, and how to describe percentages in Cantonese. This is critical stuff, so get listening!

Assuming you've been watching the same Hong Kong films as the rest of us, you must be familiar with the scene: our protagonist is making a mad dash across Hong Kong in the middle of rush hour. Yet despite the standstill traffic, he makes considerable progress by embracing creative driving techniques: pushing his Lexus over sidewalks, taking hairpin turns down pedestrian walkways, and even crashing down the mid-levels escalator.

Since we're sure this sounds familiar and may even have whetted your appetite for some Hong Kong motoring, we will try to break the news softly. Despite what any sensible driver might conclude from years of exposure to these allegedly documentary works, this is not actually how people drive in Hong Kong. So trying to cut a bit of time off your commute may be frowned upon by the authorities. And no, we don't think it's fair either.

Jane stared at her production schedule with resigned disbelief. It was clear at first glance that the board's target would be difficult if not impossible to meet, but the deadline still meant it was crunchtime for everyone at the office, and especially her and her team. With only two weeks... she was just doing the math again when Jane realized Harold had stepped into her office. He was one of her most productive subordinates and she only hoped he was here to share good news.

Learning Cantonese? Our Cantonese podcast for today is an elementary lesson, which means we assume you already know the absolute essentials of the language and focus instead of faster and longer dialogues featuring natural Cantonese the way it is actually spoken here in Hong Kong. So if you've spent a few months in Hong Kong and are trying to master the language, listen in and see how much you understand.

Less than an hour after the salesperson had begun demonstrating the device, Sarah lugged her new lie detector onto the kitchen table with a sense of satisfaction. For the last few weeks she had become increasingly distraught over Philip's evasive answers at the dinner table. When pressed over the boy's time in school, or even asked simple questions about his English studies, her son would grow evasive and withdrawn. It was about time that changed....

Want to learn Cantonese? At Popup Cantonese we have a huge archive of fun and free Cantonese podcasts and other lesson materials. This lesson is designed for elementary students who already know a bit of the language and are comfortable hearing relatively easy Cantonese spoken at a native pace. So if you already know the basics, listen in and let us know what you think. And if you don't, why not start with our lesson series for absolute beginners to the language?

"This lesson has nothing to do with Sleeping Beauty," Nicole was feeling pedantic, probably because we'd just given her about fifteen hours of data entry work, and then added annotating this lesson on top. "I mean... what does this podcast even have to do with France." The lack of an answer from our side of the office failed to deter the complaints. "And honestly David, have you ever seen a castle in Hong Kong? There's a reason property prices are so high...."

In retrospect, it may be true that this Cantonese podcast is only loosely based on the classic fairy tale by Charles Perrault. So loosely based that some of you might even say it isn't based at all on the fairy tale. But leaving that aside, this Cantonese lesson is still worth a listen if you're just getting started. Join us and in under ten minutes you'll have enough compliments under your belt to last at least one stop on the Hong Kong metro, which is all it really takes to get a phone number if you meet Mr. or Mrs. Right.

"You can have any flavor you want," the clerk made a vague waving gesture at the empty shelves, or perhaps the storeroom behind him. Jessica arched her head to gaze behind the counter, but even so only managed to catch a glimpse of a carton of half-melted chocolate ice cream. "Is that the only flavor you have," she blurted out in surprise, visibly relieved when the clerk shook his head and handed her a leaflet describing the store's thirty-one specialties.

Want to learn Cantonese? First things first... we want to thank everyone who stuck with us during our roughly two week hiatus from active lesson publication. Today we're pleased to be back in the saddle with a Cantonese lesson that talks about "kinds" of things, and especially specifying which type of something you want. The language in this Cantonese podcast is fairly simple and covers some core essentials, so if you're just starting out take a listen, and let us know what you think!

The three of them had spent the night crying, although for entirely different reasons. Ever since Sandra's affair with Michael had been exposed on national television, her relationship with Sam had been ripped apart. And Michael's friendship with Sam had been tested as well, as undercurrents of anger, jealousy and resentment shifted the ground beneath all three.

If you're just starting to learn Cantonese, we think you'll like this lesson. Our dialogue is fairly simple, but it covers an absolutely essential topic: how to tell people you like them, and perhaps even love them. And we also teach you how to answer. So listen in and when someone asks "do you love me", you'll be ready to answer either way.

Ever heard of Hong Kong's famous Tuen Mun yoghurt or the blue cheese of Leung Shuen Wan? We're betting you haven't, if only because neither happens to exist. And sad as that may be to consider, it's hardly surprising given the appalling state of the Hong Kong dairy industry. There is probably not another place with a lower cow-to-human ratio outside the Maldives, which at least has nice beaches.

So - yes - we know that you're busy studying Cantonese and enjoying the local nightlife and Hong Kong's amazing cuisine, but consider this elementary Cantonese lesson a critical reminder: there is more to life than dim sum and more than three basic food groups in the health pyramid. Useful to bear in mind if you don't want to end up like the poor soul in our dialogue for today....

The creaking gate stirred Tuan Tuan from his slumber. It was eleven o'clock, and Yuan Yuan, who had been sleeping peacefully in the thicket beside him, growled at the disruption. They were not the best of friends, but on this the two creatures could agree: what fools they had for keepers! Tuan Tuan briefly contemplated shifting slightly to express his displeasure at the interruption, but his natural lethargy and ongoing battle with the the previous evening's dinner won out. He remained prone.

And yet the giant beast nonetheless kept a groggy eye on the sole figure which had emerged into his dwelling, huffing in a white overcoat while wheeling in what appeared to be a giant black box. Disappointment settled in his heart at seeing this most unimaginative of gifts. And then it occurred to the creature that perhaps this too would be filled with bamboo. And who could ever complain about bamboo?